Sous Vide anyone?

[Maenad]

I love our sous vide for lean proteins that can easily overcook - it makes a phenomenal chicken breast, and if you cook it to 150 or so, you're actually pasteurizing it*. I've had vacuum sealed cooked breasts last for several weeks in the fridge, which is a little scary.

Shrimp and lobster are both crazy good, never ever rubbery. I've also pasteurized eggs that I later used for french silk pie.

When we do venison steaks for friends, we pull some of the big roasts, slice them into 1.5" thick slices, marinate, and sous vide, finishing on the grill usually. Again, since venison is so lean, the sous vide works really well.

I haven't tried doing a pork butt yet, though I mean to. I've also heard that bacon cooked in the sous vide and finished on the stove is magical, but I want to do a side-by-side comparison with pan-fried and oven-baked to see if it really makes a difference. Oh darn, gotta cook up a bunch of bacon.




*Pasteurization is a function of time and temperature, and I'm too lazy right now to find the exact time/temp I used.

 

[braumeister]

I've been using sous vide since 2011 and think it's a great alternative in many cases. There's a reason it's used so much in restaurants.

 

[Sue J]

My first and last sous vide;

Looks good eh? I think I did 45 minutes at 125 followed by a flame job with a torch. It tasted like a picture of a perfect steak. No flavor. It would have been better pan fried or oven broiled let alone charcoal (my fav) so I gave it up.

I chuckled out loud over that comment!

 

[MRG]

I've been using sous vide since 2011 and think it's a great alternative in many cases. There's a reason it's used so much in restaurants.

That's what made me a believer. Had a cheap luncheon steak at a steakhouse that used sous vide. 9.99 steak, potato, and a salad, best steak ever.

 

[CRLLS]

I do Sous Vide on the cheap. I use a crock pot set on high plugged into a digital temperature controller. The temp probe goes in the water. Works great IMO. A few weeks ago I cooked a skirt steak for >6 hrs then pan seared it on the stove. The flavor was terrific and it was fairly tender. I might try cooking it a bit longer the next time. From what I read, some people cook a skirt steak up to 24 hrs. The longer it cooks, the more it tenderizes.

 

[audreyh1]

I've been using sous vide since 2011 and think it's a great alternative in many cases. There's a reason it's used so much in restaurants.

I can certainly understand why it’s used in restaurants as it can help with the staging/flow when you are cooking for large numbers of people. But that doesn’t really apply to my kitchen.

 

[NW-Bound]

I have found that with sous vide I get more consistent results. The method is very tolerant. It does not matter much if you leave the meat in for 3 hours or 4 hours.

Cooking on the grill is more critical. If the cut is not an even slab of steak, the thinner part may be overcooked, while the thick part is too rare. And yes, I always stand ready with a Thermapen to take temperature periodically.

I don't see much difference in flavor, in contrast with what Robbieb said. That said, I still alternate between sous vide and grill.

 

[pacergal]

My go to for fish is steaming via parchment paper wrap and baking in my small convection toaster oven. Never fails, soft, flaky fish every time.
We use the Traeger grill, Instant pot, or cast iron skillet for all other meats.
I rarely use my big wall oven anymore.

 

[audreyh1]

I have found that with sous vide I get more consistent results. The method is very tolerant. It does not matter much if you leave the meat in for 3 hours or 4 hours.

Cooking on the grill is more critical. If the cut is not an even slab of steak, the thinner part may be overcooked, while the thick part is too rare. And yes, I always stand ready with a Thermapen to take temperature periodically.

I don't see much difference in flavor, in contrast with what Robbieb said. That said, I still alternate between sous vide and grill.

Yes, I am totally present when anything is on the grill with direct high heat. I don’t mind as it doesn’t take very long.

 

[athena53]

IMHO, the temps used for sous vide are likely too low for this to be an issue, but YMMV...

Thanks- and thanks also to those who suggested alternatives to plastic. I'm not a big meat eater (although I'm sure there are good vegetable recipes) and not into having a lot of specialized kitchen appliances but at least I'll feel better about trying sous vide foods away from home!

 

[audreyh1]

My go to for fish is steaming via parchment paper wrap and baking in my small convection toaster oven. Never fails, soft, flaky fish every time.
We use the Traeger grill, Instant pot, or cast iron skillet for all other meats.
I rarely use my big wall oven anymore.

It’s been a while since I did parchment, but yes the fish and veggies always come out great. My favorite for salmon is oven roasting. I simply slather the large fillet with pesto butter. Sometimes I slice it first - depending on the shape. Comes out awesome.

 

[tmm99]

A big sirloin roast at 130F for 10-12 hours. It would be a hit and miss if I used my oven, as the size of the roast/particular cattle would change the doneness and tenderness.

As for salmon, Atlantic salmon is easy as it's more fatty, but wild salmon like sokeye salmon is hard as it has much less fat gets dry quickly, so it's either I eat the middle very rare, or use my sous vide.

Honestly, I don't use my sous vide much anymore. I used it often when I used to buy 1/4 grass-fed beef as the grassfed had so little fat that I couldn't cook any other way to keep the meat juicy/tender enough.

 

[Kelor]

My local meat market seasons and air seals steaks for us for Sous Vide'ing. Life does't really get much easier than this.

 

[Chuckanut]

I did Sous vide once after buying several steaks in a package. The first ones I cooked was rather tough so I decided to SV it using an old lunch cooler and my cooking thermometer. It required a lot of close monitoring, but I have to admit the tough steaks turned out quite eatable. I just don't eat enough steak to make getting the gadget sensible.

 

[swakyaby]

I recently made a sous vide pork chasu using a pork tenderloin. My marinade was made with soy sauce, sake, mirin, kombu, Chinese scallion, garlic and ginger. After heating and cooling the marinade, I strained the solids out and poured the marinade in a vacuum sealed bag with the pork loin. The sous vide result was really nice, moist, well-flavored. I would thin-slice it for garnishing my ramen, or add to stir-fry, or even slice it for an entree.

 

[Dalmore]

I love my Sous Vide, it is a great tool in the kitchen. I don't see it as the end-all-be-all, but it is a tool. I enjoy doing chicken breasts, fish, burgers, and pork chops with it. One thing to remember, is if you aren't using the juices that come off it during the cooking process, you will be losing a lot of flavoring and you may need to re-season the dish before finishing it in the pan. One of the things I like most about it is the long cook "window". I can start the protein part of dinner before heading off to meet the wife at our pilates class, and when we get home, we can have nice dinner on the table in 15 min or less. It is never over cooked or undercooked.

A great page for learning the ins and outs of Sous Vide cooking is https://www.seriouseats.com (the page for chicken is extremely enlightening: https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast.html )

 

[HFWR]

Thanks- and thanks also to those who suggested alternatives to plastic. I'm not a big meat eater (although I'm sure there are good vegetable recipes) and not into having a lot of specialized kitchen appliances but at least I'll feel better about trying sous vide foods away from home!

There appears to be some questioning of even non-BPA plastics, based of search results, as with most things internet. N=1, my only adventure in sous vide was a medium rare steak, at about 130F, no hotter than your car out in the Texas sun. [emoji12]

I’ve microwaved leftovers in plastic so many times during my w*rking years that the occasional sous vide is likely just noise. And, frankly, I like grilling just fine.

 

[rollergrrl]

You can take cheap cuts and make them taste amazing!

 

[Kelor]

You can take cheap cuts and make them taste amazing!

This might be what I like most about the Sous Vide. I don't need to buy the most expensive cuts in order to have a tremendous steak with a Sous vide. So much of the success with the Sous Vide is the art of the seasoning, whereas so much of the success with a grilled steak is the art of grilling.

 

[MRG]

Made perfect scallops tonight, 123°F for 30 minutes. All were identically done and ready to finish in the pan. They're sometimes difficult for me to gauge doneness and this is repeatable.

 

[sengsational]

You can take cheap cuts and make them taste amazing!

I tried a pot roast. 136 for 28 hrs. It wasn't "fall apart" like when braised in the electric frying pan. Rather more like the consistency of a good steak that has been thrown on the grill. I has a rub on it, and the flavor really permeated. Not great, though.

 

[Winemaker]

Flavor/taste come from your sense of smell. When you cook sous vide, all of the cooking aromas are confined in your cooking bag. When you make your sear, that's when those aromas are unlocked, and while searing with a propane torch will complete "the look", searing on a cast iron skillet or griddle, gets those aromas out in the open for yor nose. Why do you think those Ruth Chris' steaks come to your table sizzling on a super heated plate?

 

[NW-Bound]

I do post-sear on a skillet, which allows me to make a sauce with the fond. I have never used a torch.

 

[Buckeye]

I bought a Joule sous vide about a month ago. I found a Facebook group, Exploring Sous Vide, where I can get some tips and tricks.

 

[NW-Bound]

I built my own sous vide with a regular crockpot and a $10 digital temperature controller with a probe.

Recently, my wife wanted to join the bandwagon of the Instant Pot, and she got the new 6-quart model with the sous vide mode. It's smaller than my DIY crockpot, but still enough for most usage.